Bore Our Sins
I have never really excelled at math. Oh, I do okay. I took a few advanced math courses in high school and college, but they were not easy. Concepts, however, delight me. The field of Accounting has the concept of imputation. Imputation is the act of crediting money to accounts or people. The money did not belong to that account or person, but it was reckoned to them as though it did. Such a concept is necessary at times for balancing business or personal accounts. And, since the reckoning is done with real money, no one ever says it is a legal fiction.
The Bible never uses the word imputation to describe Christ’s work on our behalf, but it certainly utilizes the concept. The Bible describes our sin as being credited to Jesus – our sin is reckoned to him that he might bear it on our behalf. Isaiah 53:6 says, “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” A little further in the chapter he says, “My righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities…he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many.” These passages teach that our transgressions have been reckoned to God’s servant that he might suffer their due penalty.
Imputation is also found in the New Testament. Upon seeing Jesus, John the Baptist exclaims, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” In 2 Corinthians 5:21 the Apostle Paul says, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” Again, Paul writes in Galatians 3:13, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.’” Throughout church history teachers inside and outside evangelical circles have tried to deny imputation. The most recent is N.T. Wright. I am sure he has an alternative explanation for these passages, but if Jesus did not bear our sin on the cross there is no basis for forgiveness.
Leaning on the vocabulary of the altar, the writer of Hebrews 9:28 adds his thoughts to the growing evidence, “so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Finally, the apostle Peter tells us, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
When Jesus drinks the cup of God’s wrath by dying on the cross, he cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This cry, known as the cry of desolation, indicates a moment in Christ’s life where he is abandoned by his heavenly Father. The Father does not abandon Jesus forever, but he does abandon him. The Father pronounces judgment on sin, and Christ experiences the isolation of the execution of God’s justice. Recorded in Mark 15:33-39 as a part of the crucifixion narrative, Jesus’ words make little sense if he is not in fact bearing our sin at this moment.
The question on Christ’s lips is often misunderstood. Was Jesus asking a sincere question? Not in the sense we normally think, for Jesus was certainly aware of why his Father had forsaken him. All we need to demonstrate this is to look to Mark 10:45, which clarifies Christ’s understanding of the cross, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Instead of believing Jesus ignorant of the full implications of the crucifixion, we ought to understand his words in light of their source.
The cry of desolation is a quotation from Psalm 22. In this Psalm, David asks why God has taken so long to vindicate him. By the end of the psalm it is apparent God has rescued David, and the cry has turned into praise. It makes good sense to understand Jesus words as not only expressing the cry of Psalm 22 but also the confidence. Therefore, when Jesus asks, “why have you forsaken me?” he, like David, is asking, “How long will this last?” The question is crucial. The Son of God is not required to make an eternal payment, but any payment made must be complete. In other words he does not have to suffer forever. Rather, he suffers fully. Consequently, once full payment is made, Christ’s suffering comes to an end and “he will see the light of life and be satisfied” (Isaiah 53:11).
One does not need to be a math whiz to grasp this concept. For this the mathematically challenged ought to be thankful. Let us, however, be more thankful that Jesus has indeed taken our sins upon himself. For if our sin is not imputed to him, his righteousness, which is the reward of his suffering, cannot be imputed to us. May we therefore praise our Lord, that out of God’s heart of love, the scales of justice are balanced, our ransom is paid – our sins are forgiven!
Loving the doctrine of Imputation,
Pastor Andy
The grace of understanding comes through thinking as opposed to not thinking. – John Piper
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